Take design for instance. More often than not, we’re only too keen to jump into UI design, just like we’ve always done, without fully understanding the problem we’re trying to solve.

No, that’s the path to the dark side.

How might we further understand this problem? How do people complete this task today? How have others solved this problem? There are many tools and techniques you can use to start reframing problems into ways of solving them. And even when designing the solution, start with a sketch with a Sharpie or use a whiteboard. At the ideas stage it will offer a lot more options than tweaking a design file on your computer. Try it out!

Note: I’m interested in your views of higher education, especially for designers. Are degrees that important? Can you work your way to success and just read a tonne of books? Or do you create that one personal project (like redesigning the boarding pass) and that’s your calling card for the beginning of your career? Let me know by replying to this email!

Adobe released some product updates last week. This is how InVision responded. I’m excited about what InVision are doing. Integrate with Sketch and Photoshop, get the exposure (and get designers to love the extensions), then BAM! Introduce a new design tool.

Charlie Deets is a product designer at Facebook. Here he shares the principles, his understanding of engagement and recognises that when you’re designing the next best thing, you’re going to have some pretty unique problems.

So, it seemed fitting in the wake of World Mental Health Day, to share some musings on what I’ve learnt over the years, and how I feel about things now. There is a fine line between being driven and ambitious, versus being stressed and overworked.

That balance of stress and working to deadlines is something I think about quite a bit. Deadlines are important for getting things done, and to avoid detrimental stress, you have to prioritise.

In SaaS, you don’t win by getting there first or having the best idea. You win by continually solving the problem better. When you build a feature that’s extremely popular or successful, the competition will steal it.

Is Trello really just a “feature” rather than a product? In any case, neglecting your paying customers though can have damaging consequences as Trello found to their detriment - finally selling to Atlassian.

Why include this? Because maybe you’ve dealt with or you’re currently dealing with depression. Reading from other peoples perspectives gives balance to the Instagram perfection I see. Not everything is ok with everybody - that’s the real story.

I haven’t been shooting as many photos in recent months and I really need to get into it again. I’ve been using Photos app and have found the filtering to be quite heavy-handed. Might give this version of Lightroom another shot.